THALASSOCHELYS CARETTA. 211 



NOTE XXIII. 

 THALASSOCHELYS CARETTA ON THE DUTCH COAST 



BY 



Dr. Th. W. VAN LIDTH DE JEUDE. 



In the end of December 1894 a living specimen of Tha- 

 lassochelys caretta L. was captured near the village of Oud- 

 dorp on the island of Overflakkee. Though this species is 

 an inhabitant of the tropical and subtropical seas, living also 

 in the Mediterranean, it is an accidental visitor of the North. 



Mr. Edm. de Selys-Longchamps, speaking about Ghelonia 

 caretta^ mentions: »Elle a été pêchée deux fois a Blanken- 

 berg sur la cote de Flandre, mais elle ne s'y trouve que 

 très-accidentellement" '). Fuller information as to the date of 

 capture , or the sex and the dimensions of the captured 

 animals is wanting. According to P. J. van Beneden two 

 Chelonidae were captured in November and May 1859 by 

 fishermen of Ostende ^). 



On the first of August 1861 a Loggerhead Turtle {Ghe- 

 lonia caretta) was caught at Pennan , near Banff, by fish- 

 ermen in a stake net and was recorded to have been very 

 lively and pugnacious. This specimen had a weight of 25 

 lbs, whilst its shield measured 19^2 hy 18 inches. Another 

 specimen, ll'/g inches long and 10 inches broad, was 

 caught in August 1861 in fresh water, viz. in Loch Lomond, 

 as recorded by Mr. A. D. Smee in a letter to Dr. J. B. Gray ^), 



In 1707 in our country also a Ghelonia of about 6 feet 

 long was captured in fresh water , in the Wijkermeer near 

 the village of Beverwijk, as is recorded in the »Kronyk" 

 of the town of Medemblik. In this case we are not sure 

 as to the species the marine turtle belonged to, nor have 

 we any certainty about the species of a very large specimen 

 captured on 17 August 1777 near the island of Walcheren. 



1) E. de Selys Longchamps, Faune Beige, Ire Partie. Liège, 1842. 



2) Bulletins de TAcademie royale de Belgique. 4e Série, T. VI, p 71. 



3) Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 3rd Ser. Vol. 8, p. 3.51. 



Notes from the Leyden Museum, "Vol. XVI, 



